Manchester Officials Say Group Homes A Growing Burden In Town

Residents jam a meeting with state Department of Correction officials in October. The focus was a halfway house for convicted sex offenders. (Jesse Leavenworth/The Hartford Courant)

MANCHESTER — The board of directors on Tuesday discussed how to balance compassion with the strain on local resources that comes with being a center for state placements of people with mental illness and other problems.

Manchester hosts 65 group homes and other "placement facilities," most of which are contracted by state agencies. In comparison, East Hartford has 18 such facilities and West Hartford has 17, according to a recent town-commissioned study.

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Police Chief Marc Montminy and other town leaders say calls for service from these facilities have become an unfair burden to Manchester taxpayers. Mayor Jay Moran plans to form a task force in December to further study the issue and seek state relief.

"The town is a warm, compassionate, welcoming community," General Manager Scott Shanley said at the morning meeting in town hall, "but at some point, you have to wonder if you're being taken advantage of."

The placement facilities serve clients who include mentally ill people, paroled prisoners, teenagers with chronic behavior problems and others with alcohol and drug addictions. The town also hosts 14 supportive housing locations, compared with only one in East Hartford and two in West Hartford, according to the study, which was completed in March.

Manchester police, fire and human service agencies receive 12.9 "mental health calls for service" for every 1,000 residents, compared with 4.61 calls in East Hartford and 3.15 calls in West Hartford, the study by Central Connecticut State University's Center for Public Policy and Research found.

From 2005-13, there was a 210 percent increase in such calls to police, Montminy said. Reported incidents included suicides, suicide attempts and threats and so-called "EDP" (emotionally disturbed person) calls. The calls are time-consuming, Montminy said, and some people call repeatedly. A mentally ill, paraplegic man accounted for 30 calls to emergency responders between March and August of this year. One time, the man dialed 911 because he was "unable to clean himself," according to the chief's report to directors.

Often, such people turn to local agencies for help instead of their state-funded caretakers, Montminy said The state's policy of placing people in community-based care, called "money follows the person," often fails because of poor management and a lack of communication, both within state government agencies and from the state to the town, local officials said.

Moran noted the example of a former group home in his neighborhood that served abused and neglected boys. Neighbors became concerned because of the many police responses to the home. The state Department of Children and Families announced earlier this year that the home would be closed, but Moran said Tuesday that one of the main problems with that facility and others is the state's failure to notify town officials when such congregate facilities are established.

Town residents and government leaders had the same objection recently when they learned that a halfway house for convicted sex offenders had been set up on Clinton Street. Residents crowded a meeting in October with state Department of Correction officials, saying the facility did not belong in a neighborhood with many children and single women. The department has since notified the town that no more offenders will be placed in the home and it will eventually be phased out.

State agencies seeking to establish group homes are attracted to Manchester because of the town's infrastructure and services, including public transportation, a local hospital and other healthcare facilities, officials said.

State Sen. Steve Cassano, a Democrat and former town mayor who was among several state legislators at the directors' meeting Tuesday, said the many multi-family homes available to rent in town are a particular lure.

Board of directors member Cheri Eckbreth said the current system is not helping anyone, including state clients. Other towns, Eckbreth said, "should not be getting a pass" on contributing to necessary services.

State Rep. Jason Rojas, a Democrat whose district includes part of Manchester, said he and other state legislators will try to ease the town's load. But Rojas also said there's a reason so many group homes are based in Manchester.

"You can't put somebody out in Coventry, because there's nothing out there," he said.